Our Team
Tom Tamohara Pourchot
Tamohara das joined ISKCON in 1972 at the Chicago temple and was initiated by His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada in 1973. He served as a member of the GBC from 2006 until 2020 and is now retired as a GBC Emeritus.
Former positions in ISKCON included serving as a temple president, BBT department manager, Sankirtana leader, Gurukula Director, and Director of the ISKCON Child Protection Office. He is currently the Chairman of the ISKCON Alachua Board of Directors and President of Sevacare of Alachua, Inc.
He has offered courses and seminars, along with his wife Mantrini devi dasi, in marriage education and grihastha life, parenting, communication skills, devotee care, and leadership skills. He has a Doctorate in Educational Psychology and was a former faculty and administrator for graduate programs in Counseling and Clinical Psychology. Tamohara das and Mantrini devi dasi have been married 54 years, and have 3 grown children, and live in Alachua, Florida.
Sandra Sukhada Elsey
Sukhada Dasi, Sandra Elsey, attended Oakland University (a branch of Michigan State) receiving her Bachelor’s degree with honors in education. She taught in Michigan for three years, but always felt something was missing in the educational system.
In 1974 Sukhada joined ISKCON Detroit, eventually accepting first and second initiation from His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada. She served enthusiastically in ISKCON Miami and ISKCON Hawaii distributing books at airports, events, and Waikiki Beach. She frequently gave classes in Krishna Consciousness at Miami and Hawaii universities from 1974-1989.
In 1989 the family moved to Alachua, Florida and she began a life long career teaching gurukula. Krishna was what was missing in the educational system she had previously abandoned.She helped to establish the New Raman Reti gurukula, and in 1998 played a major part in writing the charter for the Alachua Learning Academy where she taught middle school for 14 years.
She is a resourceful provider of End of Life Care having received her certification through Vaishnavas C.A.R.E.
Kishor Rico
Kishor Rico received his Bachelors of Science in Adveritising from the University of Florida in 2009. He is also the president for a non-profit corporation called Our Future Hope Inc. which focused on youth empowerment. For his profession he is a musician and also a certified real estate agent in the state of Florida. He also serves a board member for ISKCON Alachua.
Joseph Ghanashyam Caruso
Ghanashyam das is a disciple of His Holiness Radhanath Swami. He presently works as a Hospice Chaplain at Community Hospice and Palliative Care in Gainesville, FL. He lived for 11 years in an ashram in New York City-The Bhakti Center-before transitioning to the Hospital setting and becoming a professional spiritual care provider. In 2014 he completed his Clinical Pastoral Education training at Bellevue Hospital Center before going to New York Presbyterian Hospital in 2015 where he worked conjointly with the Pastoral Care Department and Palliative Care Services for 5 years. He has taught Vaisnava Philosophy and Meditation at several Yoga Studios in NYC and is the Co-founder of “End-of-Life Matters,” an End-of-life initiative for care givers offered at The Bhakti Center in NYC. He also previously served as Vaisnava Chaplain at both New York University and Columbia University.
Bradley Vira Tansey
Virabhadra Rama Das was born in Dallas, Tx and raised in the Radha Kalachandji community and ISKCON Gurukula schooling system in Dallas, Alachua and Mayapur. He traveled each summer with Rtadvadja Swami from 1999-2003 on his annual “summer trip”, which set the foundation for a life of service and friendship in Srilal Prabhupada’s movement.
In his early twenties he began his career in Coaching and Holistic Health traveling to Australia, California, Hawaii, New York and India mentoring and practicing under master teachers. He served in leadership at the Bhakti Center, NY for just under 10 years and as the President from 2015-2020.
In April of 2020 he came to the New Raman Reti Community in respite from the COVID lock down in NYC and it quickly became clear that this was where he was meant to raise his family. Married to his childhood sweetheart Dhyana Prema Rasa since 2015 with two children (Virachandra 5yr & Dharani Prema 2yr) and here to serve you!
He Co-directs the Ayurveda Health retreat and continues to support people around the world through his coaching and educational offerings to free themselves from negative grips of Trauma and discover their true self and life purpose.
Lily Madhuryalila Allin
Lily Allin has a Bachelors of Science degree from the University of Toronto, and a Masters degree in the Science of Nursing from the University of Maryland. She is a Certified Family Nurse Practitioner, and an Advanced Certified Hospice and Palliative Nurse with experience in cancer and hospice. She has administrative and teaching experience from working at the ALA. She has been associated with ISKCON since 1970. Her interests lie in supporting individuals during health crises and End of Life Care that is sensitive to one’s cultural background.
Rasa MacKnight
Rasa MacKnight is an assistant Physical Therapist. She has years of experience in natural healing. She grew up in Hawaii and joined her Guru, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, in the early 1970’s. She is a resourceful provider of End of Life Care having received her certification through Vaishnavas C.A.R.E. She also has years of experience helping with Community/Devotee Care. Rasa has lived in Alachua upwards of 25 years.
Susan Mulaka Masla
Susan Mulaka worked for more than ten years as a counselor at the Alachua Learning Academy. She has been involved with Community/Devotee Care for longer than that. She took the Vaishnavas C.A.R.E. training and is a Certified End of Life Care resource and provider. She has lived in the Alachua community for 25+ years and is familiar with the local resources. She became spiritually connected with ISKCON in the early 70’s and is recognized in the community as a compassionate supporter of those in need.
Meals on Wheels/ Community Care Services/ Social Media
Sharon Shalagram Splane
With over four decades of rendering services, Shalagrama Devi Dasi has served nine years as a sankirtan leader, fifteen years as a Montessori Teacher, part of which was in her own school, and five years as a Pujari. Furthermore, she was a yoga instructor and a massage therapist for one out of the four decades. For the past six years, her passion and interests have shifted to Devotee Care/End of Life Care, thus her attraction to our New Raman Reti community. Seva Care affords her the opportunity to direct her time, energy and talents in a tangible way.
She has completed the Grief course with Rambaroo Prabhu’s team, the Devotee Care course under the direction of Jai Nitai Prabhu, and has a Certificate of Completion in order to serve under Seva Care. She is fluent in Spanish, having lived in Costa Rica in her younger years. She is committed to promoting a respectful and collaborative team culture, making Community Care a sustainable reality.
She can be contacted at her email address, harmonyhouse108@gmail.com, or through Seva Care, contact@mysevacare.org.
VrajaKishori Hutchison
Vrajakisori Hutchison lives in Alachua with her husband and two children. They moved here from Honolulu almost five years ago. Her mother is a disciple of Srila Prabhupada and they have been raised in Krsna consciousness. Vrajakisori has a Bachelor’s in Liberal Studies from SFSU and a Master’s Degree in Dance Education from UHM.
She worked many years as a preschool teacher and as an elementary school math teacher. She is passionate about working with the aging population of our community and our children and families.
Carol Ragatimika Tewksbury
Growing up in a large family of 10 siblings, with parents who were active church members, Carol Ragatmika imbibed the spirit of community service in her early years. In the course of her life she was drawn to the convent, where she trained to be a social worker. After some years she joined ISKCON in 1971 and mostly engaged in book distribution and composing Srila Prabhupada’s books. With her husband and son, she lived in Mayapur for 8 years, where she served in the office that screened and welcomed the incoming foreign devotee residents. This afforded her opportunities to assist in helping devotees to adapt to and get acclimated to living in the holy dham.
Her involvement with SEVA Care is primarily related to the daily operations of the Meals on Wheels program, while also stepping up to do the needful in caring for the devotees in the Alachua community.